I do this now as both a blog and a public service announcement. Yesterday after a long day of moving my stuff into a new apartment I sat down, relaxed and plugged in my brand spankin new iPod Touch into my computer so it would be charged for the next day. A notification pops up at the bottom corner of my screen. [Digital Still Camera] it says, “hmm, that’s odd” I think to myself and then BOOM Blue Screen of Death!!! I try restarting my computer then plug in the iPod again…same thing. “WTF I JUST BOUGHT THIS THING 2 DAYS AGO” so naturally, I was upset. After trying several times I gave up and went to bed.

This morning I did what everyone who has ever gone through a horrible, possibly life altering event has done…I Googled it. I soon found out that I was not the only person to face this problem on their non Mac computers. Message boards were filled with people complaining about their iPod related blue screens of death and very few knew how to fix it. Eventually I came across a possible solution. Apparently if you recently downloaded pictures via the app store that were stored on your touch but not stored on your computer this can cause the crash. A recommendation is made to delete these photos completely and this should solve it. Another problem could be an outdated version of iTunes or device drivers that need to be updated such as those relating to printers and Logitech cameras. Right now though, I am at work so I won’t be able to test these out just yet. I deleted my photos so hopefully that will work, but either way I plan on updating this post later with my (fingers crossed) solution. Please feel free to post any questions, similar experiences and solutions in the comments.

That’s all I got for today folks, cheers

-Rapidfire

[UPDATE]: Removing the pictures worked, I guess I can never download pictures from the app store again…

OH CANADA! That is right, THAT IS FUCKING RIGHT. When I logged on to my Xbox Live account and saw the Wal-mart advertisement for Batman Arkham Asylum for only $38.83 I thought it was too good to be true. It turns out I was wrong because from August 25th-27th, only in Canada as far as I’m aware, you can pick up a brand spankin new copy for that awesome price. After the 27th the price shoots back up to 70+. It seems someone decided to give us Canadians a break and priced the game cheaper. So, corporate competition being what it is every other retailer in Canada did the same thing and thus  Canada = Win, as always. All I have to say is LOLOLOLol to the rest of the world, but I have to get going because I need to track down one of these cheap copies as soon as possible! {Bolt’s out the door before remembering to save post, then runs back, saves it and leaves again}

-Rapidfire

[Update]: According to the worker at EB Games the price reduction was due to a pricing mistake at one of the big box stores, possibly Wal-Mart. They accidentally priced the game at $38.83 so everyone else had to price match in response. So I just saved myself $30, Lol

That right there my friends, is the formula for a truly great weekend. Well, that and a good night on the town with friends, women and booze. This weekend, as I previously mentioned, me and a few buddies (tjbroand Aaron) geared up for a night to remember. On Friday our first destination was Scotia bank theatre in downtown Toronto to catch an early show for District 9, a movie I had set my hopes quite high for. After purchasing our tickets and waiting only to be moved to another  screen for some odd reason we sat down and enjoyed the film. This movie was some epic awesome, I have to say. It’s amazing how a first time director, no-name actors and a 30 million dollar budget!!! could turn out to be so magnificent.      

**Spoilers Ahead, skip to next paragraph** First time director Neill Blomkamp takes us on a fantastic ride through a fictional alien inhabited Johannesburg South Africa where alien refugees have been causing problems for the local community since their mysterious arrival 20 years ago. Virtually unknown actor Sharlto Copley carries the film all on his own as Wikus Van De Merwe, a head operative for MNU who is in charge of facilitating the transfer of the Prawn population from the alien refugee slum  District 9 to the newly created District 10. Wikus is exposed  to an alien chemical that causes him to slowly transform into one of the prawn, making him the only human able to use their advanced weaponry (like a wicked ass lightning gun that basically turns people into shit and OMFG a Mech).

Overall I personally believe this was the best film released so far in 2009. The CGI was magnificent, the acting was superb and the story was just brilliant. A must see at this summer’s box office.

Anyways, after the movie we check our concert tickets to find out that the show started 1 1/2 hours earlier than we thought…ballz. Needless to say, we were late and ended up missing one of the opening acts Scale the Summit but I don’t really care and neither did my friends. Upon arriving at the Molson Amphitheatre Big Elf was on stage playing some kind of weird ass metalish music involving duel organs. They were okay, but the real treats were yet to come. Zappa plays Zappa was the next band to hit the stage and they were Awesome. Dweezil Zappa and his band played several hits from his late father Frank Zappa’s career. The sound was different, but I really enjoyed it and the skill these musicians had was absolutely excellent.

Next came the headliners, Dream Theater. This was my first Dream Theater concert so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As soon as they came on the band lit up the stage starting off with one of their new songs A Nightmare to Remember. Every single one of the band members was ON that night, apparently they always are so I’m told and it was one hell of a show. The band is just as good live as they are on their albums which is far above what most bands can say. The combination of Mike Portnoy’s antics, the musical skill of everyone in the band (especially John Petrucci on guitar and Jordan Rudess on keyboard) and the overwhelming energy of the crowd made it a great experience…The best live musical experience I’ve ever had. The only downside I could think of was the lack of audience interaction, but my friends tell me that Dream Theater is more of a show of musical talent than a concert where the music takes center stage, not just the band….I forgive them lol.

We left the concert feeling energized and satisfied so we headed to a local Fox and the Fiddle for some pints and bar food to cap off the night. There is more to tell about this weekend including lots more drinking, fun times with friends and all stumbling through the streets of Toronto but this post is already long enough lol. All I have to say is, what a weekend…

-Rapidfire

Alrighty folks I’m at work so you know what that means… I’m bored so I’m gonna post a quickie. Ok so I’ve got a bit of a double header here. Tomorrow is my day off (thinks to himself “Thank Fucking God”), so me, tjbro and my friend Aaron are gonna go catch an early show of the greatly anticipated sci-fi flick District 9. After that we will be going to see quite possibly the world’s best progressive metal band, Dream Theater, on their Progressive Nation tour Live at the Molson Ampitheatre. I expect both are going to be mind-blowingly, face-meltingly awesome…we might have to wear protective goggles…but either way you can expect a follow up review/first-hand account next week. Have an awesome weekend everybody…Cheers

-Rapidfire

P.S. Here’s a metaphorical/hilarious representation of what could and in all likelihood will happen this weekend

**Warning this is a long one but a good one…that’s what she said**

Although my blog/RL buddies imthinking and tjbro have already created their own tales of our swashbuckling experience through the dense forests of Canada, I feel it is my duty to fill in the missing details with my own brand of truthiness.

So, let’s begin at the beginning instead of beginning at the end like so many poorly written Hollywood movies. Alright, Last week as the old crew gathered in our home town, my friend Jerry (imthinking) got the idea to go hiking through Algonquin park in Ontario, Canada. A few of the more outdoorsy of us (myself included) thought to ourselves “Yeah let’s fucking do this, Bring It ON!” ,or something similar to that. So the day was set for a week later. Being as awesome as we are, we decided to take the 35km Highland trails in the time frame of about 1 1/2 days (recommended 3 day hike, yikes ). We arrived at the trails at about noon on Saturday, full packs ready to go on our backs…and so the journey began {insert Lord of the Rings music here}. About 30 seconds into our hike we encountered the first of what would be an unending supply of grueling uphills strategically designed by God to make sure we permanently lost the use of of legs by the end of this. The path was epically tough, but stunningly beautiful as we strolled on through dense forest all day passing by amazing creeks, plants, wildlife and waterfalls, but throughout the whole trek there was one constant…this place was filled with mushrooms. Everywhere we looked there were mushrooms, some of which Jerry claimed were “edible” but I’m sure he was just trying to get us high and take advantage of us while in a hallucinated state. Anyway, I am almost positive that Algonquin park used to be the mushroom kingdom and I was sure we would run into Bowser soon enough. Here’s an artist’s vague representation:

So, moving on…After walking all day and particularly motoring it in the last 2km we reached ur campsite and collapsed in a joygasm on the ground. Now let me tell you people, you have no idea how long 17km really is until you’ve spent 5 1/2 hours walking with a heavy pack on your back, uphill both ways and nothing but “purified” creek water to drink. 

That night we spent our time roasting sausage over the fire, taking a swim in the cool lake and wondering whether the girls across the lake were old enough, a.k.a 18 and older u pervs, to play hide the tea cup in the tent…they weren’t, thus destroying our dreams and leading to much brooding that night. So, instead of having our wilderness fantasies fulfilled we sang unorthodox campfire songs (Bohemian Rhapsody, Fuck Her Gently, Journey, etc), joked around and shared some laughs until we were ready to pass out. It was at just this time that the Chupacabra’s amphibian cousin which I dubbed the El Chupalibre Pamplemousse decided to stalk around our campsite making us realize it would probably be safer to share a tent instead of being separated so we could be picked off one by one. Thus began an uncomfortable and sleepless night (having no pillow sucks) as we all shared the three person tent which I brought, keeping our hunting knives close at hand. I’ll skip to the morning because I don’t wanna talk about it ok [sobs and shivers with fear].

Ok so the next day we “woke up” if that’s what you want to call it seeing as how we barely got any sleep, and made a huge breakfast to give us enough energy to survive the remaining 18km we had to face that day. After consuming a metric ton of oatmeal, purifying some lake water to drink and packing everything back up we continued our voyage {insert Lord of the Rings music again}. Once we had hiked for about 15 minutes that morning I made the mistake of thinking “this isn’t as bad today” so nature turned around and metaphorically kicked me in the nuts as right then and there a huge thunderstorm started that would rage on for hours as we trudged through the forest soaking wet. The forest was still awesome and all with the plants and the mushrooms and frogs and stuff but we just wanted to get the hell out of there so we motored. We flew through the trees that day and destroyed our bodies in the process. The rain kept our body temperatures down which made it a bit easier to keep walking, burning through 8km in just under 2 1/2 hours. Along the way we noticed a set of moose prints that seemed to be from a moose that was most likely just a little bit ahead of us. That was until I came across what looked like wolf prints and the tracks mysteriously stopped *gulp*. So after walking past what was probably an epic moose massacre it was about 2 PM and the rain finally stopped. Thanks to this we were able to enjoy a cool breeze and some sunshine as we took the final break of the day before finishing up the trek (wish I had a picture of this). Finally after 27 hours 22 minutes and some change we emerged from the mushroom kingdom, drenched with sweat, tired, dehydrated and REALLY hungry. That evening we chose a classy victory meal of Wendy’s double cheese burgers and Dairy Queen, oh Yeah! After that we simply parted ways and returned home to collapse in broken heaps on the floor. My legs were a broken pile of mush, Thom’s (tjbro) feet had turned into giant blisters and torn skin and Jerry claimed he felt fine…but he is a chronic liar and masturbator so no one listens to him anyways. Thus ended our journey through middle-earth/the mushroom kingdom/Algonquin Park/Pee wee’s playhouse.

To all my readers I just want to say that you should all experience something this awesome. Get out there, experience the world…just give yourself more than a day if you’re doing something as crazy as us lol. My legs still haven’t recovered from this. Cheers everybody

-Rapidfire

P.S Here are our Heroes just before we embarked on our mystical Journey:

Dear Firefox,

The time we spent together has been wonderful. I can still remember the first time we met when our eyes met across the desktop. You were one foxy little browser and I just had to get to know you. That hot little Firefox 3.0 dress looked so good on you. After taking the plunge and asking you to be my default I couldn’t have been happier. You could do things that no other browser could. You had tabs and themes and that little thing you can do with your tongue . I didn’t think the good times could end. But I have to be honest, we’ve drifted apart recently. I no longer get that blissful feeling when I log on to you and I just needed something to spice up my life. This is hard to say…but I’ve found someone else. Her name is Google Chrome, a friend introduced me to her not long ago and we just hit it off instantly. We didn’t plan this it just happened. I know you may get upset because she’s younger. In fact she is only in the Beta phase right now and I know some people may think that’s too young but damn it we’re in love and who are they to judge. She’s so sexy with her graphical interfaces and she’s always quick to open a web page and forgive me for saying but she has a way bigger and nicer set of….applications.

I hope, in time that you can forgive me and that we can still stay friends. I’m sorry it had to turn out this way and I just want to wish you good luck. I’ll miss you.

P.S. : Here’s a picture of her

- Rapidfire

After hearing a lot of hype about this mysterious “Splosion Man” in the past few weeks I decided to find out first, what the hell sploding is and second, is this game any good? As soon as I got home from work that day I downloaded the demo off of Xbox Live Marketplace and sat down for some crazy. Let me just say one thing…WIN. Twisted Pixel’s  newest addition to Xbox Live Arcade takes platform gaming to a whole new level of awesome and ridiculousness. To give you a short and vague description, Splosion Man is like the unholy love-child of Mega man, Sonic, LSD, Shrooms and a whole lot of Cocaine…and about 12 cups of coffee on top of that.

The object of the game is to take your little radioactive cocaine addict and explode or “Splode” your way through the side scrolling platform levels. Apparently you are taking revenge for some reason on the scientists who made you awesome… That or your crack dealer is waiting outside and you REALLY need to get to him fast. Your character flies through the levels by sploding from wall to wall over pits of acid with the help of explosive barrels and basically everything you see on your quest to escape this underground laboratory, including the thousands of nameless scientists who you turn into meat…literally, when you splode them they tumble into piles of ribs and steak Lol. Your character also has an extreme fascination with cake too as you will randomly find floating cakes in every level that you devour in seconds, making your character’s face light up like it was Christmas.

So all I have to say is Buy It! This game is non-stop fast paced fun that will leave you entertained, frustrated at the hard parts and laughing your ass off the rest of the way due to the absolute insanity that you will encounter. There are 50 levels of single player campaign and 50 completely different up to 4 player co-op levels and at 800 Microsoft Points it is a huge deal. So go inject some caffeine into your jugular and Get ready for some Sploding!

-Rapidfire

[WARNING: Spoilers and Sweet-Ass Awesome Shit Ahead!]

LucasArts is gearing up to give us a giant pile of awesome this fall. The hugely successful game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will see a new expansion which will let the sinister little Sith inside you live out his dark side fantasies. Titled the “infinities” storyline, it will allow players the chance to explore the hypothetical story that would have taken place after killing Darth Vader and becoming the Emperor’s new apprentice. The player is sent on a mission to Tatooine by the Dark Lord of the Sith in order to assassinate Obi-Wan Kenobi. While on Tatooine, you end up at Jabba the Hutt’s palace where you have to face off against a pissed off Boba Fett and I’m guessing also a Rancor. This downloadable content will be available available on Xbox Live, PSN and PC/Mac.

A second part of the “infinities” storyline will be available ONLY as part of a new box set Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Ultimate Sith edition. This second chapter brings you to the ice planet Hoth in order to kill Luke Skywalker and crush the remainder of the Rebellion. As someone who already owns the Force Unleashed this disappoints me because I don’t want to have to re-buy it in order to get this slice of awesome. Hopefully LucasArts will fix this issue. Either way, check out The Trailer.

The Weber Chimney Starter is a great product for the charcoal grill enthusiasts. If you are looking for a great way to start your charcoal grill without having the flavor of lighter fluid on your food, and you are tired of waiting for the electric grill starters, here is the product for you.  Weber has a great design with the Chimney Starter. It is made from durable aluminized steel, giving it a quality frame.  The Weber Chimney Starter measures 7.5” in diameter and sits 12” high.  It has a nice wire fold out handle that helps you safely distribute the coals into the grill when they are ready. The Weber Chimney Starter is very easy to use. You fill the top with charcoal. Underneath the Weber Chimney Starter you can either place starting blocks or newspaper. You start the blocks or newspaper and let them burn to get the coals hot. In about 8 minutes the coals will be ready to dump onto the charcoal grate.

Directions:

• Set starting blocks or newspaper on charcoal grate.
• Put Chimney Starter over blocks or newspaper.
• Fill top of Weber Chimney Starter with charcoal.
• Light blocks or newspaper.
• Dump coals on charcoal grate when ready.

That’s right folks, its official. Another spidey film is headed on down the pipe and I for one am going to approach this one with a little caution. I thought that the first two films were excellent, but was pretty put off by Spider-man 3. The whole thing was way too cartoony in its execution and tried to cram too much story into one movie. I mean come on….sandman…Seriously? Anyways, the new film shines a glimour of hope this its rumored cast of villains. At long last we are finally going to get to see the Lizard. After seeing clips of Dr. Curt Conners dropped in every single Spider-man movie but never getting that sweet scaly pay-off, supposedly SamRaimi has finally decided to throw this bad ass villain into the mix. Also, I am very excited for….wait for it….CARNAGE!!!

After years of waiting us faithful fans are being rewarded with THE most hardcore awesome and absolutely tweaked villain in the Spider-man universe (rumored). The combination of the Venom symbiote and serial killer Cletus Kasady will take this movie franchise into much deeper and darker places. I expect this installment to be the darkest and most sinister in the film series and I really hope Sam Raimi can pull this off. I have faith in Sam though because I am a huge fan, but after that last one I’m still gonna be a little cautious. Oh and also the movie might include the Black Cat, which should make for a smoking hot addition to the cast but other than that I honestly don’t care. Lol.

The new film is scheduled for release in May of 2011.

In an overwhelming display of generosity, someone in Arvada Colorado ”donated” a live claymore land mine to their local Goodwill drop box. Apparently they thought that what the less fortunate really need are anti-personnel explosives to guard their cardboard shacks and shanty towns. 

Police say Goodwill workers became a bit suspicious when they noticed an olive green rectangle with the words “Front Towards Enemy” printed on the front sticking out of the donation box. Once they noticed this I can only assume they did the natural thing and shot fireworks at it until they were bored and then called the police. Either way, the strip mall where the drop box was located had to be evacuated and the local bomb squad was able to dispose of the land mine. With all said and done, we can be rest assured that 24 now has a plot line for their next season.

Anyone who has seen the movie The Hangover undoubtedly has the image of Zach Galifianakis being tasered in the face by a pissed off 10 year old hilariously seared into their minds. Well apparently some Australian police took that scene to heart. A 36 year old man named Ronald Mitchell burst into flames after being tasered right in the face by police in Warburton Australia. You’re thinking “OMFG LOLOLOL awesome”, I know.

Now before some of you start saying I’m full of shit and that’s impossible and that he couldn’t just randomly burst into flames like that its important to remember, I’m the one telling the story here so sit your ass down and wait for me to finish. Apparently police were at Ronald’s house because he was suspected to be huffing gas to get high. When the cops showed up he ran out of the house straight at police with a gas can and a lighter in his hands. After refusing to listen to the officer telling him to stop, the officer took out the taser and shot him square in the nose igniting the gas he’d been nostril banging all morning…hilarity ensued.

Here’s the full news story for you: Taser Pwned

Ok, that’s it, you win Activision, game over man…game over.

Just when I thought that the upcoming release of COD: Modern Warfare 2 couldn’t get anymore exciting and ridiculously epic Activision came up and smacked me in the face and said “Who told you to stop getting excited? You better wait for my request!”. It seems the most anticipated game of the year will be coming out with 3 versions for sale on the store shelf, a la Halo 3 style. The first being the game itself, the second being the Hardened edition which comes in a metal box that contains concept art, other details on the games development and a code to download the original COD on Xbox 360, PC or PS3. Now that is pretty sweet on its own but the folks up in Activision’s marketing department weren’t finished there, oh no. The third edition which I will call the “OMFG STFU FTW” edition (actual name – Prestige Edition) comes loaded with all this crazy shit.

Like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? For those of you who are scratching their heads in disbelief, yes that is a set of real WORKING night-vision goggles to go along with your game, metal case, concept art, the making of video and downloadable original COD. Oh and guess what, it even comes with the sculpted head for displaying purposes. Now, this won’t come cheap I can tell you that much. Estimates peg this puppy at a whopping $150, and don’t ask me what currency that is in but I’ll assume its US dollars. Now I don’t know if I’m prepared to dish out that kind of cash but it would definitely be hella-fuckin-balls-to-the-wall-awesome if I did. I can’t wait for Modern Warfare 3 because it will probably come packaged with your own COD branded F-22 Raptor. Now there’s a premium package I can get into.

Download

“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.”

— Edith Wharton

and i firmly believe it!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

out of topic  :) ::

….yesterday i had quite a looong chat with cinnamon…another blogger and was amazed at the awesome connections we had…similarities…surprises….confessions…..u name it…the conversation kept flowing and we cudn’t stop chirping…..two strangers discovering things about eachother …the world is indeed a pretty small place.  :D

1. Robert Plant (Band of Joy, Led Zeppelin, Rockestra, The Honeydrippers, Page and Plant, Strange Sensation, Alison Krauss)
2. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden, Samson)
3. Ronnie James Dio (Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven and Hell)
4. Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses, Hollywood Rose, L.A. Guns, Rapidfire)
5. James Hetfield (Metallica)
6. Angus Young (AC/DC)
7. Alice Cooper (Alice Cooper)
8. Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
9. David Lee Roth (Van Halen)
10. Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath, Ozzy)
11. Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, Lovage, John Zorn, Kaada/Patton, Dillinger Escape Plan, Hemophiliac, Maldoror, General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners)
12. Gene Simmons (Kiss, Wicked Lester) (Argue it if you don’t agree!)
13. Dee Snider (Twisted Sister, Desperado, Widowmaker, S.M.F.’s (Sick Mother Fuckers) )
14. HR (Bad Brains, Human Rights)
15. Rob Halford (Judas Priest, Fight, 2wo, Halford, Bullring Brummies)
16. Sebastien Bach (Madam X, Skid Row, Frameshift, Damnocracy)
17. Iggy Pop (The Stooges, The Iguanas)
18. Henry Rollins (State of Alert, Black Flag, Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters, Rollins Band)
19. Marilyn Manson (Mrs. Scabtree, Marilyn Manson)
20. Serj Tankian (System of a Down, Serart, Axis of Justice)
21. Phil Anselmo (Superjoint Ritual, Christ Inversion, Down, Arson Anthem, Viking Crown, Pantera)
22. Lemmy (Motörhead, The Rockin’ Vickers, The Head Cat)
23. Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails Pigface, Tapeworm)
24. Kerry King (Slayer) (Argue it if you don’t agree!)
25. Danzig (Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)
26. Zach De La Rocha (Rage Against the Machine, Inside Out, Hardstance, One Day as a Lion)
27. GG Allin
28. Scott Ian (Anthrax, Stormtroopers of Death, Damnocracy, Pearl) (Argue it if you don’t agree!)
29. Rob Zombie (White Zombie, Scum of the Earth)
30. Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, Disfear, The Great Deceiver, The Crown, Skitsystem)
31. Maynard James Keenan (TexA.N.S., Children of the Anachronistic Dynasty, Tool, Green Jellÿ, Tapeworm, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer)
32. Gaahl (Gorgoroth, Trelldrom, Wardruna)
33. David Coverdale (Whitesnake, Deep Purple)
34. Doro (Snakebite, Warlock)
35. Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan)
36. Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe)
37. Wendy-O-Williams (Plasmatics)
38. Lita Ford (The Runaways)
39. Conrad Lant (Venom, Cronos, Probot)
40. Mike Muir (Suicidal Tendencies, No Mercy, Infectious Grooves)
41. Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom, Sinergy, Kylähullut, Impaled Nazarene)
42. Jeff Walker (Carcass, Blackstar, Brujeria, Electro Hippies)
43. Tom G Warrior (Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Apollyon Sun, Triptykon)
44. Wino (The Obcessed, Spirit Caravan, St. Vitus, Wino)
45. Joey Demaio (Manowar)(Argue it fuckers!)
46. Chuck Billy (Testament, Dublin Death Patrol)
47. Mike Monroe (Hanoi Rocks, Demolition 23)
48. Dead (Mayhem, Morbid)
49. Sakevi (GISM)
50. Till Lindemann (Rammstein, First Arsch)

Theo hehemetal

A change is gonna come has been used far too much, but I think I’ll use it one more time, it came the other night through a storm and a flurry of words convulsivly thrown up at me in what was supposed to be helpful insight.    I can tell you it was not what you would have expected in the way of helping.   Come again? What were you thinking?  He said.  How could you think you were helping her?  He said.

Answers were supposed to come in rapid fire like responses, but I wasn’t feeling much like responding.  I hadn’t the foggiest idea what I was even thinking, let alone answering some psycho babble.

After all the spewing had escaped I noticed spittle dripping on his chin and my eyes were red and non responsive, I cannot imagine how I survived such a blast of artic air and that was quite something considering  I wasn’t even standing in front of the ice machine.    This was over, the airwaves weren’t going to hurt me again in the way it had in the past.  Yes, there was pain initially and yes, some of what icicles penetrated my pump and hurt and dug way too deep, but not again.  I have been forgiven by the Almighty on high and I’ll forgive the iceman and in hopes of an ensuing flood of bergs I’ll be ready the next time and as God as my witness there will be a next time, I’ll be ready with the heat sources to stop the steady stream of icicles and such.

He reins with ice capped teeth blowing instructions and orders like darts being thrown across a room of beer happy patrons and he expects me to follow every word he says.  I’m gaining strength, I’m not listening to this senseless tirade.  I say.  I slowly, as slow, as thoughtful turn, can be, turn to the left and work my muscles out the door, and in the background it is snowing.

To be continued I’m sure.

Heil, fellow Flashists. It’s time for another Rapid Fire Round, and this time we’re exploring the weird little sub-genre of shoot-em-ups called denmaku, curtain fire, barrage or simply Bullet Hell. Bullet Hell was originally invented by the Japanese, who decided that videogames should not just be a form of entertainment, but some kind of brain-melting, eye-twitching Herculean goddamned quest. As the name suggests, there’s a lot of bullets on screen. Like, seriously, a lot. So much so that, compared to other shoot-em-ups, the main part of your concentration is not on shooting down enemies, but navigating a way through a ridiculous pattern of bullets. These games sometimes have complex scoring systems, based on combos or ‘grazing’ bullets (sometimes you need to be shot at a point directly at the middle of your ship, and ‘grazing’ a bullet with a wing or somesuch actually gives you more points) and are frequently unforgiving, killing you witha single hit. Unfortunately, this genre is not exactly well-represented in the Flash format, with many of these games being impossible-to-find Japanese PS2 imports that you have to remortgage your house and suck off the guy behind the game store counter in a back alley to get ahold of. However, I’ve tracked down a few that might draw your attention.

Frantic

Biff McKraken, space pilot extraordinaire, could not explain his sudden craving for hula-hoops

Important stuff out of the way first: Frantic is awesome. It’s possibly one of the better attempts at a Bullet Hell shmup available in the flash format and one of the slicker flash shoot em ups out there. Using either the keyboard or mouse (I recommend mouse) you control your ship through an ever-escalating series of levels. Don’t worry about shooting, it’ll fire automatically, leaving you to concentrate on finding a path through the enemy fire. With each enemy you kill, you fill up your adrenaline bar on the left-hand side and clicking the mouse button or pressing space will activate a powerup. The fuller your bar, the more potent the powerup, from a shield that converts and bullets that hit you to health, to a screen-clearing special attack. In addition, each enemy killed leaves behind a gold coin, collecting these gives you money to upgrade your ship between levels by purchasing up to 4 upgrade cards. These cards can increase your damage, fire rate, add sidekicks with special weapons, even give you a small chance to double your earnings each level. Having to pick between 4 of these cards forces you to consider what powerups you really need.

The graphics are clean and crisp, although a little sterile. Simple designs on both your ship and the enemies, but this is necessary considering how busy the screen can get, and the explosions are quite pretty. Most importantly, there’s very little slowdown and the action stays smooth throughout. The boss fights, in particular, are good fun, with the screen soon filling with bullets from every side, leaving you to try and navigate a precarious route through them.

Frantic is a polished and enjoyable shooter with a lot to recommend it, the only issue being that of questionable replay value. After a few levels, there just doesn’t seem to be quite enough depth to the game, and there’s little to make you come back to it once you’ve played it through. That said, your first run through is so much fun you won’t really mind. This is one to play, but not necessarily to bookmark

4/5

Danmaku Legend 2

The Space Federation's brief flirtation with loading their guns with flower petals proved disastrous

Danmaku Legend 2 is something of a classical Bullet Hell shooter. It embraces a lot of features of the genre such as the weak and strong firing styles. Tap the Z key and your ship will use it’s weak firing mode, a weapon that usually has a wider spread. Hold down Z and your ship enters strong firing mode. Your weapons is stronger, but with a narrower focus. On top of this, your hitbox displays as a red dot at the middle of your ship. Let bullets ‘grace’ your ship all you like, but don’t let them touch that red dot. As your ship grazes bullets, it increases your ‘RF’ gauge, allowing you to fire a Repulsion Field with X, transforming enemy bullets into score-boosting pickups. The X button is also used to fire your smart bombs when the RF gauge isn’t full, and in addition you can hold the C key to use just your weak firing style. Confused yet?

The graphics are servicable, but lack character, with all the spaceships looking a little generic. Also, the game unfortunately suffers form a little slowdown in places. The game itself is tough, as bullet hell games should be, with you struggling to work your way through some of the more punishing boss fights (although there is a more forgiving easy mode). The grazing system, choice of ships and greater depth to the game should grant it a little more longevity, although this might depend somewhat on how enjoyable you find it to watch your ship continuously blowing up.

4/5

Flash Ikaruga

Sorry. No. I can't tell what the fuck that thing at the top looks like. Demented armoured horse maybe?

Ikaruga is one of the modern daddies of the Bullet Hell genre. Originally available on Gamecube, the game has now been re-released on XBox Live Arcade and is well worth your MS points. It’s the combination of a beautifully simple but effective combat mechanic and horrible ball-bursting difficulty that makes it like liquid crack to a certain breed of videogamer. Namely, ones that hate themselves and want to suffer. This is something a little unusual, a demo of sorts for the game released in Flash. Unfortunately, it’s extremely short, with you battling only the boss of the first stage, but it preserves almost everything from the game.

The graphics are good, they’ve done a fine job in converting the polygons and special effects of the oroginal to flat sprites for Flash. There’s a great deal of slowdown unfortunately, even on quite powerful computers, so it’s a good thing there’s a number of options for lowering the detail and improving performance.

It’s the game mechanics where Ikaruga truly shines. Your ship is constantly in one of two polarities: light or dark. When in a light polarity, you do double-damage to dark enemies and can absorb light bullets, increasing your special gauge at the bottom of the screen, but get hit by even one dark bullet and it’s over. When in a dark polarity, vice-versa. Z fires your main weapon, X switches polarity and C fires a number of homing lasers, depending on how full your special gauge is.

It’s a shame that the game itself is so short, as it’s only in the full version that you get to see many of the uses the mechanic is put to. Here you find yourself weaving through hails of bullets, switching polarities to avoid destruction. It’s fun, but won’t last you more than a few minutes.

What I’m basically saying is get Ikaruga on Xbox Live. You bastards.

3/5

Fat Cat

Crush the bourgoisie! Save the worker! Seize the-oh sorry, not THAT kind of fatcat

Another review, another excellent game from Nitrome. The bastards. This time I’m cheating a little as Fat Cat isn’t, in the strictest sense, Bullet Hell. It also has has elements of an incredibly frantic puzzle game and is, without a doubt, the most original game here. With your W, S, A and D keys, you control the eponymous fat cat, a slow lumbering thing with little offensive capability of his own who is disturbingly fragile, a few shos and it’s over. With the mouse, however, you control a small owl. The owl can fire with a click of the mouse button, is impervious to harm and can pick up objects by moving the owl over it and holding the mouse button. These objects include blocks that can be used to clear a path or smash opponents, the fat cat himself or cake powerups, which can be dragged to the slower, less agile fat cat. Feed the cat enough cake, and pressing the spacebar will unleash a devastating laser beam, obliterating enemies and obstacles before it.

What this boils down to in practise is you will constantly be using the owl to protect fat cat. The owl can absorb bullets, stopping them striking the vulnerable cat, and you’ll often find yourself frantically trying to use the owl to clear a path for the cat, dragging blocks, taking down enemies and stopping bullets. The game is satisfyingly hard, and allows you to come back to any stage you’ve completed previously. The graphics are a little blocky, but have a certain charm to them. Overall Fat Cat is a delightfully challenging game with strong Bullet Hell elements, the boss fights in particular proving very tough and the dual control gimmick can sometimes make you feel like your brain’s sliding out of your ears. Thoroughly recommended. But not to the weak.

5/5

This is going to be called a RAPIDFIRE! blog post. I’m just going to write a bunch of stuff without too much extra fluff. By the time you’re done wiping off all the awesome crap I’d just thrown at you, you will realize that my site is awesome, you will love David Strack, and you will be happy with only 11 episodes of daveTV (I can’t believe I’m even still talking about that 3 years later. Get over it!). Okay, open fire.

Wapoosh! I just redirected all of my dead domain names (at the suggestion of @golddeath [that's a Twitter link!]) to TFB. Now if you want to visit davidstrack.com, wallpaperhero.com, dangerpolitics.com, drivefivedesign.com, or wmgamer.com you will land right here. Hey, if you clicked all of those links, my hits just doubled went up really high for the day! Thanks!

Blam! I use Twitter. I’m addicted. I post from my awesome phone, I post from my mediocre computer, I post from everywhere. I even have my latest Tweet (that what they are called! Isn’t that fun?) posted up on the top of my blog. Some people think that Twitter users are self-centered, posting every mundane detail about their lives, thinking they are the center of the universe… Well, I’m David Strack. I AM the center of the universe. Now follow me!

Bang! My phone is awesome. HTC Diamond from Sprint. Yeah, I’ve already bragged about it, but it’s awesome. Best phone I’ve ever had. Better than my 2 other Windows Mobile devices. Hey iPhone crackheads, let’s see YOUR phone Cut and Paste! Just kidding, the iPhone has better apps so I guess it’s okay. But the Diamond is still better. 

Oh yeah, JESUS IS AWESOME. Seriously, I want to give him a high-five for being so awesome.

There. My first (and probably last) RAPIDFIRE! has ended. How does it feel?

FREESTUFF4YOU.TK

Hey guys! I’m going to show you how I got the anything free without using a credit card.

How does this work and is this legal?

When you buy an Xbox Live Points card you just enter the code and Microsoft credits you with the points right? Well, if you follow the directions below there’s a site that will EMAIL these codes to you! They buy the codes from Microsoft (or whoever, depending if u get Wii points, NX cash, iTunes credits etc.) and they get paid by the sponsors that advertise on the site. So yes, this is 100% legit and legal. Cool huh?

The only downside is you need to be from USA, Canada, UK or Australia (that’s just how the advertisers work).

OK what do I need to do?

First thing you need to do is get a “junk” email account. Since you’re going to be getting a lot of junk mail you’re not going to want it all going to your real email address, so this is what this new email account will be used for.

Step 1: Sign Up

FREESTUFF4YOU.TK

and sign up.

Once you get there click SIGN UP on the menu bar on the left and fill out your information.

They will ask you for your email. I recommend you give them your real one because this is where they will email your Xbox Live code to. If you give them your spam one you might accidentally delete it. The site doesn’t spam you its all the offers you will be doing that send the junk email.

They also ask for your address. Don’t worry too much about this all they need your address for is to mail you prizes.

After you signup they will send you a confirmation link to your email address you entered. Click the link and you’re done. The email should come pretty quick (usually instantly). And make sure you check your spam folders.

Step 2: Complete Offers

Once inside you can check out the prize list. You’ll see the Xbox Live 1600 points card is 20 points – basically 1 point is 1 dollar. You earn points by completing offers and you should be able to get 20 points in about an hour or two.

To earn points click on “Available Offers”. There you will see a whole list of offers and how many points you’ll get if you complete that offer. When filling out an offer you don’t have to give your real home address or phone number. And make sure you use your spam email account because believe me you will be spammed. Also, be sure to check your email occasionally for those offers that require email confirmation otherwise you won’t get credited for completing the offer properly.

NOTE: The higher paying offers generally require a credit card and may charge you a few dollars (usually for shipping and handling). Basically you’re spending a few dollars to get 15-30 points. You see where I’m going with this. If you do enough credit card offers you can pretty much get an Xbox 360 Console (retails $350) for $50-60. (I’m actually in the middle of working my way towards one myself. I’ll write an article detailing how to do this later if enough people want)

Here are a few tips for filling out offers:

1. Read the offer carefully so you know exactly what to do to get the points.

2. Delete cookies before every offer

3. Complete offer with realistic information

4. Use a browser that accepts cookies and turn your security down

5. Let each page load completely

Also remember that even though most of the time you’ll get the points 5-10 minutes after completing the offer, some may take up to a day or more (depending on the offer). So don’t worry if you don’t see the points just keep going they will appear if you’ve done everything correctly.

Step 3: Claim Your Prize

After you have enough points you can now go to “Available Prizes” and see what you can cash those points in for. This is the fun part. =)

They have a ton of prizes. You’ll see stuff like consoles (Xbox, PS3, Wii), video games, iPods, etc. The Xbox Live cards are in the “Xbox” section and will be emailed to you. Physical prizes like iPods and video games will deliver so make sure your address is correct before you claim a prize that requires shipping.

Also, something many people don’t realize is that if you don’t see anything you like you can actually send a request for a custom prize. Just send support a ticket with a link to what you want from amazon.com and they’ll let you know how many points you’ll need. Basically it will be a point for every dollar

After the release and instant success of the original Gears of War, it quickly became apparent that Microsoft wanted to place it next to the Halo franchise as part of a one-two punch to sell as many 360s as they possibly could. Being labeled as a console-selling title puts a lot of pressure on that game to deliver the goods, and it’s with that in mind that Cliff Bleszinski promised that Gears of War 2 would be “bigger, better, and more bad-ass” than the original, making it a must-have title for any Xbox 360 owner’s library. For the most part, Epic Games has delivered on that promise.

As the curtain opens on Gears 2’s campaign, humanity has its back against the wall. The Locust have succeeded in creating enormous emergence holes that can swallow up entire cities, gradually forcing the COG back to Jacinto, their last bastion of hope, which the Locust have not yet been able to sink. With nowhere to retreat to, taking the fight to the heart of Locust civilization seems the only remaining option. The campaign of Gears 2 benefits from substantially better writing than its predecessor, delivering a dark and serious story, filled with both tragedy and humor, that will provide gamers with a much more satisfying emotional rollercoaster ride than the chest-thumping monotone of the original ever could. As long as you’re not expecting the narrative to reveal everything, you’ll enjoy the ride; even more than first Gears, this story leaves a lot of questions hanging to be answered in a third game.

Skorge drops in to play with Marcus and friends.

Beyond improvements in writing, the action in the campaign has been jacked up to provide much more variety and absolutely epic confrontations. From the city of Jacinto, to forests, snowy mountains, and locations that are too incredible to spoil here, Gears 2 delivers enough variety to keep every chapter feeling fresh and different from what came before. Be prepared for close-quarters brawls; objectives that require players to defend a location against an onslaught; intense and varied vehicle sequences; and absolutely jaw-dropping boss fights. All this action is provided through the most enhanced version of the Unreal Engine 3, providing prettier environments to fight in, and far more enemies on screen than virtually any other shooter out there.

While Epic succeeds brilliantly in making the campaign more impressive than the first, their efforts to make the game longer leave a little to be desired. The story’s fourth act is simply incredible, and will keep players on the edge of their seats all the way up to an epic boss fight… and then the final act starts, which simply doesn’t come close to being as compelling, and despite a few great sequences, feels like it’s largely there to pad the length a bit, and showcase a few necessary events to bring the story to a close. It isn’t too much of a letdown, but it felt like Epic played some of their best cards too early, and simply couldn’t create a conclusion to match the brilliance of Act IV.

Like the original Gears, this entire campaign can be played cooperatively, either through split-screen play on a single Xbox, through a system link, or over Xbox Live. As long as the host is still maintaining the gaming session, co-op partners can seamlessly drop in or out of a game, with the AI resuming control of Dom after a human player leaves. Unlike the original, players now have the option of individually selecting what difficulty they want to play on, instead of both players being bound to a shared difficulty level. This means that if an experienced player wants to play on the Insane difficulty with a friend who wants to play on Casual, both will be able to play at the level they desire and still play cooperatively, without feeling the experience has been made too easy or too hard by the presence of the other. It’s a brilliant setup for making sure any friends who want to play together can, without skill coming between them. Even the achievements have been fixed so both players will earn them, not just whoever plays as Dom. The tactical experience of Gears 2 shines even brighter when it’s shared, and two players can work together to take on the enemy, making the co-op campaign a core part of the Gears 2 experience that shouldn’t be missed.

Welcome to the underworld.

Besides an improved campaign, by far the most exciting new addition to Gears 2 is Horde Mode, which allows up to five players to cooperatively annihilate increasingly difficult waves of Locust enemies on any of the game’s multiplayer maps. Horde has fifty waves of enemies to vanquish on the way to victory, operating on a ten-wave pattern, where after every tenth wave, the enemies will gain a health, damage, or accuracy bonuses, and the pattern resets. Competitive players will love gunning for the world’s greatest score on each map, making the most of the scoring system that awards points for enemies killed, as well as a bonus for the number of players alive at the end of a wave, and a multiplier for the enemy difficulty level. Horde also greatly enhances the game’s replay value for players who enjoyed the campaign, or co-op play in general, and don’t like playing competitive multiplayer as much. Since the difficulty level can be set so players can enjoy Horde as a casual activity for socializing, or an intense challenge to test the limits of a team’s skills and cooperation, Horde offers something for everyone, and is a hell of a lot of fun to play.

The multiplayer component of Gears of War features numerous improvements over the original. First, the game now includes the option to include bots in private matches, to fill out a game if teams are uneven, enhance a game by adding more possible targets, or be placed as opponents to a human team, to allow players to practice their tactics against a foe that fights back, before trying them in serious competitive matches against other people. They also provide the possibility of good old “bot-stomping” multiplayer sessions. Bots can also be used offline, allowing players to simulate multiplayer games without any other human teammates, which is great for a little private practice, or people who lack a good internet connection and still want a multiplayer-like experience. Enemy bots are no slouches; they will make good use of cover, flank, go for the power weapons, and everything else you could expect a human opponent to do.

Wingman, Submission, and King of the Hill offer brand-new multiplayer experiences that will help provide the multiplayer game with some more variety. Wingman allows five teams of two players each to go head-to-head in intense battles to earn the most kills and be the last team standing. To make it clear what the teams are, both members of a team spawn with the same character model. Submission brings a twist to the traditional capture-the-flag game type by making the flag a living target that fights back, and will kill you, if you’re careless. The “meatflag,” as he’s commonly called, must be knocked down and then dragged as a human shield back to a capture point on the map to win a round. Last but not least; Assassination from the original game has been reborn as Guardian, where players can respawn as long as their team leader is alive, which makes matches a chess match of sorts of protecting your leader while trying to hunt down theirs, and feels to me like the best multiplayer mode for experiencing the tactical action Gears 2 was designed for. King of the Hill will be instantly familiar to most FPS players, and functions much like Annex, except the hill won’t move.

Epic has added party and matchmaking systems to Gears 2 to make it easier to play with friends, as well as play against evenly matched opponents in a lag-free environment. At least, that’s what it’s supposed to do in theory. While it succeeds brilliantly in making it easy to get a group of friends together to play, getting into a match can be a roll of the dice. Sometimes I’ve experienced little wait in getting a game going, and other times I’ll wait for over five minutes, which seems insane, given how many people are online. The matchmaking system usually succeeds in pairing up teams evenly, though I’ve been a party to some spectacularly lopsided games, both as winner and loser. While lag hasn’t disappeared completely, it’s been drastically reduced, to the point that matches suffering lag should be few and far between. Ultimately, the matchmaking system is a huge improvement over the old lobby, though it still has a few kinks that need to be ironed out.

Be prepared to get more personal with reavers.

While the multiplayer experience has been greatly improved, it’s not without its problems. Thankfully, the shotgun has been toned down so it’s no longer all-powerful, but Epic doesn’t seem to have hit the “sweet-spot” with it yet, with it feeling slightly underpowered at the relatively short range of five to ten feet from an opponent. The lancer chainsaw also doesn’t always lower when the person holding it gets shot, like it’s supposed to. I’ve even had a match of Wingman where my brother and I spawned as completely different characters, which shouldn’t even be possible. I spawned as a Kantus, while he was a Grenadier. This only happened once, so it’s hard to gauge how common an error it is. Some maps also suffer from poor spawn point selection, particularly in Wingman, where Jacinto stands out as the worst offender, since it spawns one team almost on top of the mortar, while two teams find themselves in a perfect position to be flanked from two sides unless they’re ruthlessly efficient at killing the team that spawns nearest to them.

Problems aren’t simply limited to the multiplayer. The ability of squad AI to revive you when you’re down is a welcome improvement, but teammates can be criminally stupid in many ways, particularly in the campaign. More than once, Carmine ran ahead beyond multiple Locust enemies only to get gunned down, forcing me to kill multiple enemies in a hurry to get to him, or have to start the checkpoint over. Other times, he simply stood right out in the open, to absorb bullets like a sponge. Why would a sniper ever stand out in the open? I’ve also encountered instances of enemies teleporting all over the place, multiple times a second, and these enemies are impervious to damage when they do decide to stay put for more than a second. There’s also an occasional glitch when skipping cutscenes, where Marcus and Dom will keep reaching for their ear, as if to hear a transmission that isn’t there. They’ll lower the hand for a second or two, and then it’s right back to their ear, which makes fighting impossible, and reloading the checkpoint didn’t fix the problem. For a game of Gears 2’s stature and expectations, shipping with issues like these isn’t acceptable.

Visually, the game has been greatly improved over the original, thanks to advances made to the Unreal Engine 3. Dozens of enemies can appear on-screen simultaneously, and many battle arenas have been made larger and more open, to capitalize on this. Armor and weapons appear smoother and more realistic than they did before, with explosion effects also seeing a noticeable improvement. Sound effects and music remain virtually unchanged from the original Gears of War, but why fix what wasn’t broken?

Unique cover options exist underground.

Epic has changed the achievement list around quite a bit, to make it more accessible to the masses. Many achievements can be earned by playing through the campaign, while a good number of others can be earned in any mode, be it campaign, Horde, or multiplayer. Giving players the ability to pursue the achievements in the way that works best for them was a great decision, as was implementing an achievement tracking system that offers periodic progress updates. There’s still a few long-term commitment achievements, in the form of “Party Like it’s 1999″ and “Seriously 2.0,” which will take quite a bit of time to earn. It’s definitely a well-rounded list of achievements, and quite satisfying to work through.

Ultimately, Gears of War 2 delivers on its promise to be “bigger, better, and more bad-ass,” with a greatly improved campaign, and incredible fun provided by Horde. The multiplayer component of the game sees noted improvements in the form of party and matchmaking systems, as well as providing new game types to increase variety. Improvements in the graphics engine, as well as new weapons and executions, also help spice up the game and set it above the original. However, the game remains a couple of paces away from perfect; with periodic glitches, intermittently long wait times in matchmaking, occasionally moronic team AI, and problems with the shotgun and lancer chainsaw in multiplayer. Despite this, Gears 2 offers up more than enough high-quality content to be worth your cash, but be ready to put up with a few grievances.

• Hack – XBox Controller

Bevor ich diese news hier verfasst habe musste ich einen harten Kampf mit meinem Gewissen bestehen. Kann ich das unterstützen ? Wie rechtfertige ich das vor meinen Kindern? Gut bei denen reicht vieleicht noch ein dezenter Hinweis auf den Tisch “und so lange ihr …” . Aber irgendwann kommen die Enkel, da zieht der Tisch nich mehr – was dann ?

Aber worum gehts eigentlich ? Um eines der schlimmsten (sittlichen) Vergehen der Neuzeit

Shooter – auf ner Konsole !

Als alter PC-Zocker sind mir solche Auswüchse natürlich ein Greuel, aber ich muss auch mal an meine jüngeren Leser denken, die die guten alten Zeiten vieleicht garnicht mitbekommen haben (na wer von euch kann noch LAN buchstabieren ?)

Was brauch man zum zocken an der Konsole ? Natürlich einen Controller! Die sind, wie könnte es anders sein, aber denkbar schlecht für solcherlei Spiele geignet und müssen dementsprechend gemoddet werden. Rapidfire für die Klickfaulen soll es sein.

Im acidmods forum wird erklärt wie man seinem Controller ein völlig neues Gesicht gibt. Wer das mit den Glasfasern lieber nochmal nachlesen will folgt diesem Link..

Fertige Chips kaufen ist natürlich bequem, aber selber frickeln ist schon ne Spur cooler. Wer noch Schaltpläne für eigene Rapidfire-mods sucht der sei hier her verwiesen. KLick!

• Elektrotechnik – ordentlich Layouten

Wieder mal ein Link für Leute die aus dem Lochrasteralter schon raus sind und bereits fleißig ätzen, in diesem Fall sogar ätzen lassen. Der Globalisierung sei Dank, kann man heute selbst Kleinstauflagen eigener PCB´s für ebenso kleines Geld in China fertigen lassen. Bei Multilayerboards wird das eh praktisch Pflicht.

Sparkfun zeigt in einem kleinen How-To wie man seine Boards in Eagle so plant, dass sie auch nachher ohne Fehler aus der Produktion kommen. Wäre ja schade wenn man einen ganzen Batch in die Tonne treten müsste, weil irgendwo der Leiterbahnabstand nen Tick zu klein war.

• rocketscience – bionischer Arm

Festo, ja das sind die mit den niedlichen Hydrauliksachen, haben mal geschaut wie sie ihr Hydraulik- und Pneumatik Know-How in der Robotik anbringen können. Heraus gekommen ist ein dem menschlichen Arm nachempfundener Manipulator, dessen Aktoren (oder Aktuatoren) nicht nur wie Muskeln aussehen, sondern auch ähnlich funktionieren. Festotypisch spannt sich die Muskulatur natürlich nicht durch Stromimpulse sondern durch Hydraulik.

LINK! (mit vid)

Heil, fellow Flashists. Ben here again with a new, semi-regular feature, the Rapid Fire Round. A number of shorter reviews all based around a specific theme or genre, in this case the humble platformer. Let’s start, shall we?

Armed With Wings

Black-on-black violence has gone horribly unreported by the Liberal Media

First off we have Armed With Wings, a stylish monochrome platformer where you play a nameless samurai, armed with nothing more than his wits. And also a large sword and well-trained eagle. The eagle is the kicker here, you run through each level dispensing bad guys with your sword but can use your eagle to solve puzzles. flying it in front of an enemies face and then behind him can distract him while you sneak up for a sneak kill, or picking up small rocks and dropping them on buttons to render new areas accessible. It’s a good idea that’s carried off with a certain level of panache.

The monochrome graphics play well to the flash medium’s strengths, no need to create intensely detailed sprites here. However, the level design proves ultimately uncompelling. The puzzles aren’t interesting enough and the combat not quite in-depth enough to make this more than a momentary diversion.

3/5

Dirk Valentine And The Fortress Of Steam

Dirk soldiered on bravely, trying to ignore the huge pair of zeppelins in the background

Next up is Dirk Valentine And The Fortress Of Steam, a delightfully steampunk-styled (shockingly) platformer from the sickeningly-talented nitrome collective. You play Britain’s greatest ‘explorer, spy and master of esoteric fighting arts’ Dirk Valentine as he battles the creations of the dastardly Baron Battenburg over 24 levels. Pleasingly, the game saves your progress after each level, letting you play any level you have previously completed at any time.

The game is controlled with both the keyboard and mouse. Using the W, S, A, D or the cursor keys, you move Dirk around, whereas the mouse is used to aim and fire your chaingun. Now before you get too excited, this isn’t what it sounds like. Dirk is armed with a gun that actually fires off lengths of chain. The uses for this are twofold, first of all you can use it to dispatch the various villains roaming each of the different levels but you can also use it to create temporary platforms to help you navigate those treacherous gaps.

I can’t say enough good things about this game, the graphics and sound are charming, the gameplay is fun, the puzzles are well-realised, this is well worth your time.

5/5

Hunted Forever

Great. Insult me while being chased by the giant laser. That'll help.

A lot of flash games have really embraced a minimalist graphical style. It plays to the medium’s strengths and, when done right, can really help convey a mood. Such is the case with Hunted Forever, a stylish little game where you have to escape from an omnipresent alien gunship. This ship is armed with an array of lasers, bombs, landmines and hunter-killer drones, rendering this quite the difficult task. Thankfully you’re a pretty spry dude, able to slide down walls, walljump and generally go like the clappers. You can collect machine parts as you go which are used to upgrade your abilities, such as speed, jumping, even your size.

As is the fashion these days, you’re constantly harrassed by a rather sarcastic AI. As much as I love Portal, it’s got a lot to answer for. The game itself is pretty short, but increases it’s replayability by letting you carry over your upgrades as well as providing various different paths through each of the levels. The animation is smooth and well done and your character has a pleasing feeling of heft, similar to it’s obvious inspiration, n. A fun game that pleases with its simplicity, but provides enough depth to keep it interesting for more than 15 minutes.

4/5

Towering Forever

More neon than you'll ever see outside of an 80's revival night

The last game on the list is, possibly, the oddest. Towering Forever is a bizarre hybrid of platform, beat-em-up and tower defence games. You play a robot that must defend the Tree of Life from wave after wave of robotic attackers. To do this you can give them a damn good thrashing with your mighty robotic fists. However, you can also choose to lay a number of different towers which will shoot at the approaching attackers. Defeating them earns you points you can use to either upgrade your own abilities or those of your towers.

Again we see yet another flash game with minimalist graphics, but this is possibly the most gorgeous of the lot. Everything is suffused with a warm neon glow and the sound is suitable laid-back and ambient. The game itself follows traditional tower defence tropes of making hard choices about where to spend your precious upgrade points but with a more frantic edge as you run around, desperately trying to keep enemies away from their objective. It’s not often a tower defence game adds something new to the genre, and any that do are well worth your attention.

4/5

Meine ersten Schlachtschiffe haben die Raumschiffwerften auf meinem Heimatplanten verlassen. Ich kann mir das richtig bildlich vorstellen: Mit einem ohrenbetäubenden Dröhnen beginnen die großen Hyperraumantriebe zu arbeiten, und mühselig heben sich die Dickschiffe langsam empor, bis sie schließlich nur noch als kleine Punkte sichtbar sind. Im Orbit sammeln sie sich dann mit dem Rest der Heimatflotte. De facto bedeutet das, dass sie jetzt von einem Dutzend kleinerer und größerer ziviler Transporter umschwirrt werden, und außerdem beständig diversen Spionagesonden und Solarsatelliten ausweichen müssen. Ein einzelner leichter Jäger fiept nervös hin und her.

Tja, so gestaltet sich das Drama bisher. Meine ersten Versuche, Flotten auszuheben, sind früher an Farmraids auf meinen Heimatplaneten gescheitert. Dabei wurde alles zerschossen, was nicht niet- und nagelfest ist (=Geschütze am Boden). Ich hatte nur ein paar Schiffe gebaut, und nicht gesavt. Die Verluste hielten sich aber auch in Grenzen, weil ohnehin kaum was da war.

Ok, das soll jetzt anders werden. Meine Schlachtschiffe sind schon nicht mehr ganz billig. Deswegen überlege ich jetzt, welche Schiffe ich noch zu ihnen in den Flottenverband packen soll. Laut OWiki sind Schlachtschiffe eigentlich gegen alles gut, außer gegen Schlachtkreuzer.

Schlachtkreuzer haben Rapidfire auf Schwere Jäger, Kreuzer und eben Schlachtschiffe. Die einzigen Schiffe, die ich bisher bauen kann, auf die sie kein Rapidfire haben, sind leichte Jäger. Das legt irgendwie nahe, die kleinen Jäger zu bauen und zu den Schlachtschiffen zu packen. Ich dachte jetzt mal an ein Verhältnis von 20:1.

Ergibt das so Sinn? Wenn jemand gute Tipps hat, ich freu mich über jeden Kommentar.

RapidFire attended the 57th annual ASMS conference in Philadelphia, PA, with an exhibit booth in the Pennsylvania Convention Center and a hospitality suite in the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. The ASMS conference was the perfect venue to announce and celebrate the launch of the new RapidFire 300 System.

In the hospitality suite we hosted a RapidFire User Symposium and Launch Party for customers and guests attending the conference (photos). At the RapidFire User Symposium Debbie Zink from Merck spoke about P450 Inhibition (DDI) Assays, Andreas Luippold from Boehringer Ingelheim spoke about High-throughput ADME, Metabolic Stability and Caco- Assays and Matt Olsen from Johnson & Johnson spoke about Screening Difficult HTS Targets using RapidFire.

(View the presentations).

At the Launch Party there was plenty of food, networking, foosball, basketball and many door prizes awarded to gracious ASMS attendees. Thank you to everyone who came and made this event fun and educational!

While at the conference RapidFire also presented three posters:

Label Free High-Throughput Whole Protein Kinase Screening Assay,

Discovery of Novel Inhibitors of Serine Palmitoyltransferase (SPT) by Mass Spectrometry-Based High-Throughput Screening (HTS), and

Evaluation of accurate mass TOF-MS for use in high throughput CYP450 inhibition screening

View the RapidFire posters presented at ASMS 2009.